Hmmm. I'm not having any luck with a Yiddish version yet.
My favorite German interpreter of the song is Hannes Wader. His lyrics are almost the same as the German version in the Digital Tradition, but the DT version has more verses and a few different words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-boCKJsDe5U
DIE MOORSOLDATEN (DT Lyrics)
(Johann Esser und Wolfgang Langhoff (Tr. Frank))
Melodie - Rudi Goguel
Wohin auch das Auge blicket,
Moor und Heide nur ringsum.
Vogelsang uns nicht erquicket,
Eichen stehen kahl und krumm.
Cho: Wir sind die Moorsoldaten,
Und ziehen mit dem Spaten,
Ins Moor.
Hier in dieser öden Heide
Ist das Lager aufgebaut,
Wo wir fern von jeder Freude
Hinter Stacheldraht verstaut.
Morgens ziehen die Kolonnen
In das Moor zur Arbeit hin.
Graben bei dem Brand der Sonne,
Doch zur Heimat steht der Sinn.
Heimwärts, heimwärts jeder sehnet,
Zu den Eltern, Weib und Kind.
Manche Brust ein Seufzer dehnet,
Weil wir hier gefangen sind.
Auf und nieder gehn die Posten,
Keiner, keiner, kann hindurch.
Flucht wird nur das Leben kosten,
Vierfach ist umzäunt die Burg.
Doch für uns gibt es kein Klagen,
Ewig kann's nicht Winter sein.
Einmal werden froh wir sagen:
Heimat, du bist wieder mein:
Dann ziehn die Moorsoldaten
Nicht mehr mit dem Spaten
Ins Moor!
@German @WWII
filename[ PEATBOG2
TUNE FILE: PEATBOG
CLICK TO PLAY
WH
apr00
Here is the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index: Moorsoldaten, Die (Peat-Bog Soldiers) DESCRIPTION: German: The prisoners, trapped in a concentration camp, carry their spades to work in the moors and bogs. There is no escape; they can only keep working. But the winter (of despair) will eventually end, and they can reclaim their corrupted homeland
AUTHOR: unknown (see notes)
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (reported written that summer at Borgermoor)
KEYWORDS: war prisoner hardtimes abuse political foreignlanguage
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 354-355, "Die Moorsoldaten (Peat-Bog Soldiers)" (2 texts (1 English, 1 German), 1 tune)
Fireside-Book-of-Folk-Songs, p. 210 "The Peat-Bog Soldiers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 307, "Peat Bog Soldiers" (1 text)
DT, PEATBOG*
ADDITIONAL: Shoshana Kalisch with Barbara Meister, _Yes, We Sang!: Songs of the Ghettos and Concentration Camps_, Harper & Row, 1985, pp. 92-96, "Moorsoldten / Peat Bog Soldiers" (1 German text plus the "Peat Bog Solders" translation, 1 tune)
NOTES [106 words]: This is properly a German folksong, but the English translation has become so popular in revival circles that it probably belongs here.
Most sources list this as anonymous, but Kalisch says the German words are be "Esser," adapted by Wolfgang Langhoff, and the music by Rudi Goguel.
Klaisch, p. 92, claims that it was the "first song ever written in a Nazi concentration camp" (Borgermoor). That strikes me as unlikely, but it is very probably the most popular. Kalisch adds that some people had a false impression that it came from the Spanish Civil War, because it was recorded by Ernst Busch who fought in the International Brigade. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.1
File: SBoA354
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